BRISTOL, Tenn. – Jimmie Johnson sent yet another message to his competitors Sunday, winning at a track that has always vexed the four-time defending NASCAR champion.

Johnson plowed his way through the field in three laps to grab his first career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he denied Kurt Busch a chance to gain more ground on the No. 48 championship team.

Busch led 278 of the 500 laps and had a decent gap on Johnson when his easy drive to victory was clouded by a debris caution with 17 laps remaining. All the leaders headed to pit road, and Busch and Johnson both took four tires on the final stop.

Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart all took two tires, giving them the first four positions on the restart. Busch was fifth, Johnson was sixth and the race resumed with 10 laps to go.

Kenseth’s difficulty getting up to speed stacked up traffic behind him, including Busch, who lost his opportunity to leapfrog his way to the front.

Not Johnson, though. He weaved through the mess up to second, Stewart moved into the lead, and Johnson needed just over one lap to pick him off, too.

Busch, a five-time Bristol winner who hasn’t been to Victory Lane at the bullring since 2006, was irate over his radio at the loss. He settled for third behind Johnson and Stewart, missing his chance to win his second consecutive win of the season and prove his Penske Racing team has made enough gains to run consistently with Johnson and the Hendrick Motorsports bunch.

“I’d rather lose to any of the other 41 cars out there than the 48 car,” Busch said. “I thought we had him beat. I gave it my heart today, but we came up short.”

It was Johnson’s third win of the season and 50th of his career. More important, it was his first at Bristol, where his previous best finish in 16 starts was third. Nine of his previous finishes here had been outside the top 16.

“It’s about time,” Johnson said. “Been off here over the years, but we focused on what we had to do and overcame it.”

Next up for Johnson is Martinsville Speedway, where he’s won five of the last seven races.

Biffle finished fourth and was followed by his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Kenseth and Edwards. Dale Earnhardt Jr. overcame a speeding penalty to finish seventh, Jamie McMurray was eighth and Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.

Kevin Harvick maintained his lead in the Sprint Cup Series standings by finishing 11th.